killed by SFPD on April 7, 2016

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Case status

Please return often to find updates. We currently have no information about the criminal case status because the City of San Francisco including the D.A. lacks any transparency around killings by police. We can only inform you about what public information the family shares with us about the federal civil case they are pursuing against SFPD.

(3/13/2017) Jury Trial Date Set for October 22nd, 2018

The first hearing in the case of Family of Luis Góngora Pat v. SFPD took place today at 1:30pm, Courtroom 2, Floor 17th of the Federal Courthouse Building in San Francisco. The objective was to set key dates that would move the case forward and key agreements related to motions and the discovery process. The family attorneys expect a fight along the way to gain access to witnesses, videos, experts, technical evidence, etc. Highlights:

Federal Civil Jury Trial date: October 22nd, 2018! (We don’t like the wait, but we like the date: National Anti-Police Brutality Day of protest.)

Please note: Judge Henderson who presided today is retiring August 2017. His pending cases will be reassigned then at random by an assigned committee. Depending on the new assigned judge’s calendar, the dates might shift.

Pre-trial conference: October 15th, 2018

Mandatory settlement conference: no less than 5 days prior to pre-trial conference date

Meet & confer between parties about trial: Sept. 14th, 2018

Expert depositions and testimonies: Plaintiff 35 days before pre-trial conference. Defendant 45 days before pre-trial conference.

Parties should file an agreed upon Protective Order: March 24th, 2017. The protective order will establish which information can be public and which must remain confidential. Police officers claim many protections under POBAR so the lawyers will have to fight to make evidence publicly available.

Extract of claim

On April 8, 2016, at approximately 10:00 a.m., Decedent Luis Gongora Pat was sitting on the ground, on the the 400 block of Shotwell Street, in San Francisco, California.

City of San Francisco Police Sgt. Nate Steger, Officer Michael Mellone and a third yet-to- be-identifed Officer arrived on the 400 block of Shotwell after someone reported a man with a knife. The three Officers parked their cars in the middle of the street and rapidly approached Mr. Gongora, who was sitting on the ground, by himself, leaning against the exterior wall of a building and minding his own business. There were no civilians in Mr. Gongora’s vicinity and Mr. Gongora was not threatening or harming anyone. While Mr. Gongora is reported to have had a knife on his person for safety reasons; as is common among the homeless population, he was not wanted for any crime and was not a threat to himself or anyone else.

Mr. Gongora spoke Mayan and only understood a limited amount of English and Spanish. Despite the Officers’ claims they gave Mr. Gongora orders to “get on the ground” in both English and Spanish, on the video tape capturing the incident, the Officers can only be heard giving orders in English. Witnesses recount Mr. Gongora remained crouched down on the ground with his head down, cowering in fear, unable to understand what the Officers were shouting.

The Officers quickly closed in on Mr. Gongora, abandoning all recommended de- escalation tactics and failing to maintain adequate distance and space to properly assess the situation and avoid unnecessary force. While Mr. Gongora was sitting on the ground, one of the Officers came up to him and began rapidly discharging a rubber projectile shotgun, striking Mr. Gongora multiple times in the side and back area. After the officers began using force against Mr. Gongora they did not provide any additional commands or give Mr. Gongora the opportunity to comply with their initial orders. Mr. Gongora was injured from multiple rubber projectiles and tried to move away from his attacker, when a second officer began to shoot him with live ammunition. The two Officers were simultaneously pelting Mr. Gongora with lethal and non-lethal rounds from both sides, as he attempted to escape with his life.

The Officer who initially started shooting Mr. Gongora with rubber bullets transitioned to his handgun and began shooting the wounded man with live rounds. In a shocking visual image, the officer can be seen shooting down at the wounded man, with a handgun in one hand and a shotgun in the other, in a scene that is reminiscent of a gangster movie. The double fisted shooter can be seen on video shooting down at Mr. Gongora, who received bullet wounds to the top of his head and another down into his back, in addition to gunshots to both arms and his abdomen. In less than 30 seconds of arriving on scene, Mr. Gongora had been hit with five (5) rubber projectiles and six (6) live rounds.

Tellingly, a third officer was present on scene and did not even unholster his weapon or engage in any force whatsoever.

Mr. Gongora died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds, leaving behind three adult children, a wife and an outraged community.